In light of upcoming rule changes to COPPA and recent pushback from industry, the FTC has issued more than 90 letters to app developers. The letters were sent to companies whose online services “appear” to collect personal information from children under the age of 13. “While the letters do not reflect an official evaluation of the companies’ practices by the FTC, they are designed to help businesses come into compliance” with the impending changes, an FTC press release states. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports on comments made by Center for Digital Democracy’s Joy Spencer, who said, “Facebook is not doing enough to ensure children under 13 don’t have access to the site,” adding, “That raises a number of concerns about safety and because Instagram then is able to collect personally identifiable information on children, which can be used to target ads toward them in the future.”
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